Sunday, February 14, 2016

A group of volunteers was building trail in that section that day. We were able to follow flagging to get between the two sections that were already built. This end of the trail is no longer the end thanks to volunteers.

Friday, February 12, 2016

I missed this nice story that the Friends of Shenandoah Mountain posted last month. The Forest Service has rejected the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route that would have impacted Shenandoah Mountain. Read about it and check out the cool map here.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

There was rather a lot of Great Eastern Trail roadwalking in Georgia, but there's less now!

The Georgia section has some really great stuff. There's a lovely border crossing. This is probably the coolest border crossing on the trail, although Tennessee/Kentucky comes close. Nicely done, Georgia.

There's also a great little hostel with sourdough pancakes (among other deliciousness). Wonderful people make wonderful pancakes...

And of course there is Cloudland Canyon, which has got to be one of the top 5 sights along the entire trail. It's amazing.

There's rather a lot of Georgia that looks something like this:

BUT thanks to the incredible volunteer efforts of the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association, a big chunk of roadwalk has been eliminated in the Cave Spring area.

For a map and description, check out the Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association Facebook Group. This is one of the more active Facebook groups for GET trails. Once you're on the Facebook Group site, click on "Files" to access all kinds of Georgia Pinhoti Trail information and Lookout Mountain Section information!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Fantastic news from Kentucky! Senator Jones has withdrawn the bill that would have destroyed the Pine Mountain Trail, which hosts the GET.Read all about it here.From the article: With the loss of jobs in eastern Kentucky in recent years, "(w)e have to find ways to create economic activity, help local businesses and one way is to grow adventure tourism," he added.I can't think of a single hiker who wouldn't agree. Now the question is: how do we help communities and congressmen understand that hiking is viable adventure tourism?

This trail is awesome. Go hike it. And when you spend money in town, make sure people know you're a hiker.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Oh, hey! Guess which trail is listed on National Geographic's Best New Hikes?

Some of the information is somewhat accurate. It would really be nice if articles about the GET actually featured a picture from the GET, though. I know, wishful thinking! Until that happens, I'll just be glad to see the GET getting publicity. It's a wonderful trail and was the best adventure of my life.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

From the link: "SB 102 has catastrophic consequences for the Pine Mountain Trail and its use as a hiking trail. There is zero compatibility between hiking and ATV usage. They cannot coexist. The viability of the Pine Mountain State Scenic Trail as an attraction to bring hikers and tourists into our area has no future if ATV's are allowed continuing use of the Trail. "

The Pine Mountain Trail is glorious - an incredible trail that I recommend to absolutely any backpacker. If this legislation allows ATVs access to this fragile environment, all the work done BY hikers FOR hikers will be destroyed.